The present invention relates to a composition containing at least two members of the group consisting of propionic acid, benzoic acid, 2,6-dimethoxyphenol, 2-acetylpyrrole, 2-hydroxy-3-methyl-2-cyclopentanone, 2-methyltetrahydrofuran-3-one, and 3-methylbutanal; and water, and optionally a carrier or carrier material. The composition is useful for attracting insects (e.g., flies). Furthermore, the present invention relates to a method for attracting insects (e.g., flies) involving treating an object or area with an insect attracting effective amount of the composition described herein.
House flies are pestiferous insects that are readily found on all continents except Antarctica. These insects are vectors for many diseases including shigellosis (Levine, O. S., and M. M. Levine, Rev. Inf. Dis., 13: 688-696 (1991)), enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 (Moriya, K., et al., Med. Vet. Entomol., 13: 214-216 (1999); Iwasa, M., et al., J. Med. Entomol., 36: 109-112 (1999); Kobayashi, M., et al., Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 61: 625-629 (1999); Sasaki, T., et al., J. Med. Entomol., 37: 945-949 (2000)), salmanellosis (Olsen, A. R., and T. S. Hammack, J. Food Protection., 63: 958-960 (2000); Mian, L. S., et al., J. Vector Ecol., 27: 82-85 (2002)), and cholera (Escheverria, P., et al., App. Environ. Microbiol., 46: 32-36 (1983); Fotedar, R., Acta-Tropica., 78: 31-34 (2001)).
Chemical insect attractants can be very powerful in luring insects to a particular location, and are widely used in insect traps, poison bait stations, and other killing devices. Foodstuffs are sometimes also used as insect attractants. For example, cured ham is used to attract yellowjackets of the Vespula species and rotting foodstuffs in water are used to attract flies. However, the rotting foodstuffs become highly offensive to humans.
Andersen, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,849,216, reported the use of poultry liver with a bacterial culture capable of breaking it down, plus a mixture of yeast and sugar as an attractant for flies in a water-based trap. However, the breakdown products are known to be very repulsive to humans. Harris, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,937,826, disclosed the use of two food ingredients together as a fly attractant, one being a granular fish food meat by-product, and the other a yellow sugar-based attractant. However, there is currently no single effective means of attracting flies and other flying insects using natural products which can be used to properly control flies without causing an offensive odor.
Therefore a need has been established for an active attractant to lure flying insects (e.g., flies) wherein the attractant causes little odor and is easy to handle (e.g., not sticky) but is fully effective at luring insects.